Chains of an Empire
by Michael Cantrell
Summary: AU. Luke Skywalker struggles to discover his place in the galaxy after becoming a Jedi, redeeming his father, and walking away from the Alliance. The Chains of an Empire must be worn for the good of all. If they are not ... the galaxy falls.


Chains of an Empire

Part I  
Tatooine

Luke Skywalker's shaggy blonde hair rustled in the wind as he looked across the sands from the pinnacle of a dune. His once vivid blue eyes were now reduced to a near grey color and had his friends been present they would have commented that he needed to eat better. Saving the galaxy could only be done on a full stomach if Han were to be believed. Luke shook his head and gave a slight smile. He missed the smuggler and his sister, Leia, dearly. Rogue Squadron, too, was at forefront in his thoughts. Wedge, Hobbie and the others were ... somewhere on the Alliance flagship helping free the galaxy from the tyrrany of the Empire.

Six months ago the Alliance to Restore the Republic had destroyed the second Death Star along with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, but the war didn't slow down. If anything, the war was increasing in its intensity. Emperor Palpatine's supposed "nephew" Germeth had managed to hold together the fragile Imperial system with the help of the Grand Moffs. So far the Empire had managed to hold the Core and Mid-Rim despite the Alliance's momentum from Endor. Luke Skywalker, as the former commander of Rogue Squadron, felt guilt flash through his veins. He should have been helping the Alliance face down the incredible war machine of the Empire, but he couldn't.

Everything had changed on the Death Star when his father, Lord Vader, had turned once again to the Light Side of the Force before his death from injuries sustained saving Luke's life. If he were honest with himself, Luke Skywalker had a bit of a grudge against the Force for delivering his father only to steal him away again. To make matters worse, there was a second bittersweet surprise for him as well. Though badly injured, the newly redeemed Anakin Skywalker had imparted to his son that Luke was now his heir. How that had stung. He was sure his father had meant for him to be the heir of Anakin Skywalker, not Lord Darth Vader, but the Alliance had not seen it that way. After being awarded yet another medal, he had been given the "option" of resigning from the Alliance military.

At that moment, he had lost the sense of purpose he'd felt since joining the Alliance at eighteen years old. There was no redemption within the Alliance...no forgiveness. The ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi had sadly agreed before once again entering "the truth from a point of view mode" as Luke had recently coined it. By Sith law, since Darth Vader had defeated Sidious, Luke being Vader's heir gave him a stronger claim to the throne than anyone claiming to be Palpatine's mere nephew. With his dreams ruined by the Alliance and challenging Germeth for the throne was out of the question, he had gone to the one place he had never wanted to return - Tatooine.

Luke hadn't known what he would do on the Force-forsaken planet when he had arrived. That changed quickly, though. Perhaps...too quickly. His personal comlink had awoken him one morning and the Jedi had rolled over in the shabby bed of the apartment he'd rented to answer the blasted thing. Then he had a conversation that had shook him to the core. His father's majordomo had managed to track down his comlink frequency to discuss Luke's status as the heir of Lord Vader. The Empire did not know of what had occurred on the Death Star, and so still hailed the Dark Lord as one of its legends. The Alliance was too busy fighting the war to bother going after Vader's household. Lord Skywalker, as the man named Relin had called him, needed to decide on how he wished to handle the now-Skywalker estate.

He didn't want to live in a caste. That much was easy to decide. Luke had tried every means in his power to not deal with the other particulars, but Relin had been unrelenting. So as Lord Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi, stood atop a dune watching the sands and waiting for Relin's ship to touch down, the Force smiled at the future that would now unfold.


End file.
